Starting with summoning the succubus

Your loan is about to expire; please repay as soon as possible.

Oh, the first time he took Elena to eat at a street food stall, he borrowed 2000 yuan from a loan app and forgot to pay it back.

"Dudu..."

Suddenly, my phone vibrated again, but this time it wasn't a text message, it was a phone call.

Zhou Yu

Qi Lin frowned slightly, answered the phone, and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey?"

"Are you free? Come to the bureau."

"I'm busy, I'm taking Elena out to eat. By the way, didn't you already catch the devil and David? You've solved the serial dismemberment case, what do you need me for? To give a statement?"

"No."

"Then why are you looking for me?"

"David is not the killer in the serial dismemberment case."

Chapter 31: The serial dismemberment case remains unsolved!

"What's going on?!"

Half an hour later.

Shuguang City Law Enforcement Bureau.

Qi Lin, holding Irene's hand, walked into Zhou Yu's captain's office, looking at him with utter confusion, "David isn't the killer in the serial dismemberment case?!"

"sit."

Zhou Yu, holding a file in his hand, walked to the coffee table and sofa next to him, sat down first, and then poured two cups of tea for Qi Lin and Elena.

Qi Lin and Elena then sat down opposite him, but did not drink tea.

"The matter has been clarified."

Zhou Yu sighed, rubbed his temples wearily, and handed the case file to Qi Lin: "David is the real culprit in the other dozen or so missing persons cases, but he has nothing to do with the serial dismemberment case. We have completely confirmed this. In other words, we have indeed caught a murderer, but not in the dismemberment case."

"..."

Qi Lin took the file and began to flip through the pages.

The more he looked, the more complicated his feelings became.

The demon hidden inside David's body was a demon named Merman who had escaped from prison in a neighboring city.

This Merman is a fourth-tier winged demon, originally a contracted demon of a fourth-tier demon wielder.

Later, this fourth-order demon committed a crime and was imprisoned, and Merman, as an accomplice, also went to jail with him.

After serving several years in prison, with the help of another witch inmate, Murman broke the contract he was bound to and successfully escaped.

Logically, after a demon breaks its contract, it should be forcibly sent back to hell. This is the power that the summoning circle planted in them at the beginning, similar to a "timed teleportation mechanism". As long as the contract is detected to be broken, this mechanism will be triggered and the teleportation will begin.

However, the witch used magic to help Merman bypass the teleportation mechanism, making the mechanism mistakenly believe that it was still in a contractual state, so it did not initiate the teleportation.

Thus, having broken off the contract, Merman, now a free man on the run, lingered in the Blue Star Federation, wandering around several nearby cities.

Finally, in January of last year, Merman arrived in the slums of the southern district of Dawn City and met David.

David was at home at the time when he killed his own mother.

The reason was a dispute—David's mother became addicted to narcotics and wanted David to drop out of school and become a thug to earn money to buy her drugs.

David's childhood was not happy.

no father.

His mother was a bastard who would beat and kick him at the drop of a hat.

Therefore, David was naturally unwilling to listen to his mother and drop out of school to work and buy her powder.

An argument ensued.

During the argument, David accidentally threw his mother onto the sharp corner of a table, smashing her head and killing her instantly.

Merman, who happened to be passing by, saw the young man who had killed his mother and found it very interesting. So he began to bewitch David's mind, promising to give him power in exchange for David helping him collect his favorite food - humans.

The first food David helped Merman collect was his own mother's fresh corpse.

So in mid-January of last year, David's mother did not disappear, but was killed by David himself and then eaten by Merman.

If the body cannot be found, then it is considered missing.

The law enforcement bureau of Dawn City has always ignored the slums in the southern district, after all, this godforsaken place is a gathering place for social scum, and people go missing every day, so it is impossible to investigate them all.

For the past two years, David has frequently helped Merman catch people to eat.

But he's good at choosing his partners.

He arrested people from the slums, and only those unemployed people with no relatives or friends, who were marginalized figures in society who had suddenly disappeared and were ignored.

So far, David has helped Merman capture a total of 16 people, and without exception, all 16 of them have been eaten alive by Merman.

And then?

And then it's here now.

Zhou Yu first used a special prop knife to pierce David's heart, making Murman mistakenly believe that he had killed David, so he left David's body and tried to escape.

But the devil, Merman, was deceived by the human, Zhou Yu.

This knife is actually a special, high-level medical instrument; it can heal wounds after they have been created.

So, not long after David's heart was pierced by the knife, he was treated and recovered, and ultimately did not die... However, it was fortunate that he was a first-level peak superhuman, and a special body-refining sequence.

Otherwise, if it were an ordinary person, they would die the instant their heart was pierced, and they wouldn't be able to survive until treatment and recovery.

David, though alive now, has been imprisoned, his interrogation and sentencing completed, and is awaiting execution.

In short: Get cured first, then wait to die.

After all, in the Federation, there is absolutely no chance of surviving a crime like "assisting a demon in eating people".

As for Merman?

Back in the school gymnasium, Zhou Yu had already smashed the head of this demon on the spot and crushed its soul with his qi, leaving it utterly dead.

Therefore, the whole incident is clear.

David's talent for cultivation never materialized.

David's increased strength over the past two years was all thanks to Merman's help, which created the illusion of a sudden burst of talent.

However, after a thorough investigation by law enforcement, they discovered that David's lifespan was severely depleted, so Merman was clearly lying to him. The reason his strength was able to increase was entirely because Merman was overdrawing his life force.

In short: The wool comes from the sheep's back.

Or, to put it another way: first draw blood from the sheep, then feed it to the sheep to drink, and lie to them that it's a good way to replenish blood.

Unfortunately, the school doctor at Dawn Academy wasn't skilled enough, so David hadn't discovered the problem for two years.

As Qi Lin read through the case file, he couldn't help but recall an old saying.

Those who make deals with the devil never win.

"Are people really that delicious?"

At this moment, Elena said something in surprise.

The little succubus rested her head on Qi Lin's shoulder and read through the entire dossier with him, then asked in confusion, "When I was in Hell, I often heard other demons say that human flesh was delicious. Is that really true?"

"This is a dangerous topic."

Zhou Yu took a sip of tea, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Don't overthink it!"

Qi Lin flicked the little succubus on the forehead. "If all else fails, I'll let you try mine another day."

"?"

Zhou Yu held his teacup, his expression strange, sensing that something was off about what he was saying.

"I understand now."

Qi Lin placed the case file on the coffee table and looked at Zhou Yu opposite him. "So, David is indeed a criminal, but he has nothing to do with the serial dismemberment case. Then his one or two minor connections to the serial dismemberment case are purely coincidental?"

"That's how it is at the moment," Zhou Yu nodded slightly.

"In other words, the real culprit behind the serial dismemberment case is someone else who is still at large." Qi Lin frowned. "And Captain Zhou, your previous divination results showed that I am the key to solving the serial dismemberment case? This is making me very uneasy."

"Calm down."

Zhou Yu put down his teacup and said calmly, "One of the reasons I called you over was to dispel your doubts. My previous divination results showed that you are the key to solving the case, but I didn't actually divine which specific case it was. Perhaps the case related to you is just David's case."

"Perhaps? Maybe?" Qi Lin asked, his face full of doubt.

"That's the only word I can use, because I really can't be 100% sure," Zhou Yu shrugged.

"..."

Qi Lin was speechless.

"In short, stay in touch."

As Zhou Yu spoke, he got up and walked towards his desk. "After all, things have come to this point, and we can only take it one step at a time. Anyway, remember, if you notice anything unusual in your life, you can call me anytime... Also, this is for you, consider it a thank you gift for helping to solve the case."

Zhou Yu opened the drawer of his desk, took out a letter, and tossed it to Qi Lin.

"what?"

Qi Lin reached out and caught the letter, then curiously opened it to examine it.

Chapter 32 Dawn Winter Camp, Newcomers to the Laboratory

【Dawn Winter Camp】

Qi Lin opened the envelope and found an invitation to a winter camp inside.